Transcension
by Parael
Summary: It's been centuries since the worst memory of his life, and Hiei is now forced to step up in the face of everything. And this time, he won't fail, no matter what the cost.Rated for language and violence.
1. Recurring Nightmares

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.

Title: Transcension

Rating: T for action/violence and some (fairly mild) language. Remember- it IS Yuusuke I'm writing, here.

Warnings: Possible OOCness in Hiei's case- the situations he's gonna be in are just really different……not that I'll MEAN to make him OOC. If I do, just tell me, and I'll edit it. As for any others . . . There's gonna be some romantic fluffiness in certain parts of the story, but none of those hot make-out scenes or whatever. And yes, I do have theme songs for each chapter. I feel like music inspires me when I write, so I think you should know exactly what was in my head when I was writing.

_Chapter One_: Recurring Nightmares

_Chapter Theme Song_: "Remember When It Rained", Josh Groban

_The night was moonless and the forest seemed endless. The few stars in the late sky were hidden behind the thick clouds, warning residents below of the storm approaching from the western horizon. To the east, turrets of the imperial palace rose to imposing heights, piercing the low-hanging clouds and then disappearing into the dark mist. The ivory roof of the main house reflected what little light could be seen through the night, though every window was dark and empty. An icy breeze shrieked like a siren through the branches of the age-old trees, and a few dry leaves were shaken loose from their holds._

_Through the darkness, a lone girl stumbled frantically through the dense forest, as if running for her very life. Her simple white satin dress was torn in many places and covered in smudges of dirt. Her long hair was wildly tangled and thrown about her pale face, and a small twig had wound itself in one of her dark locks. The girl's face was young, and decidedly pretty, with high cheekbones and large, almond-shaped eyes; though her features were now marred by the haunting expression of utter terror._

_She ran blindly between the uniform tree trunks, the end of her gown snagging on raised roots and stones in her path. Every other step, she glanced fearfully behind her, eyes searching in panic for her unseen hunter. Running passed a small, straggly white tree bare of leaves, one piece of brown hair caught on a branch. It wrapped itself tightly around the thin limb and yanked the girl's head back sharply. She paid no notice, however, and kept sprinting ahead, the lock of hair tearing out of the branch's grasp ruthlessly._

_Not two steps past the lone white tree, however, a thick tangle of vine-like weeds ensnared her bare foot, and the girl fell towards the ground face first. Her arms shot out in front of her, breaking her fall and averting her descent to land on her side. In horror, she sat up quickly and felt her stomach gently, feeling for the faint heartbeat of her unborn child. There it was- tiny, but strong, and still very much alive within her. She sighed softly; her heart's worry put to rest for a brief time._

_In her one moment of relief, however, the young woman's happiness was forgotten as her worst fear was realized and a massive pair of deformed, clawlike hands wrapped around her dirt-smudged arms and yanked her roughly to her feet. The girl thrashed desperately, kicking the unnaturally tall being's legs and clawing at its fingers in vain. She twisted violently, thrashing about as best she could while not endangering her baby. Finally, realizing her defeat as the lightning cracked in the sky and raindrops began to fall, the captured girl did the last thing she could- she screamed._

_-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-_

In a small room of a dojo located just outside Tokyo, Japan, a sword-wielding fire demon woke with a start. His face was set in its usual stoic expression, but his ruby eyes were wide. His entire body was covered in a nightmarish sweat, and the knuckles of his hands were white from gripping the hilt of the sword resting on his lap. His breathing was ragged, and his chest heaved with every intake of air.

Silently, he sat, back straight and muscles tense, for almost an entire minute, before he slowly began to relax. His head dropped and his shoulders started to sag slightly. With one hand he reached up and pressed his fingers to his brow, closing his eyes in frustration.

This demon's name was Jaganshi Hiei, and his sleep had not been uninterrupted for the last fortnight. Every single night it was the same dream, and every single night he awoke feeling like his life had just been sucked violently away from him. Heaving a sigh, Hiei fell back against the trunk of the tree he had been sleeping under and turned his eyes upward to stare at the cloud-choked sky above him.

He suddenly felt a drop of rain fall onto his forehead. Hiei did not move as the water slid slowly down his face and dripped off the edge of his chin. _Why?_ He asked himself angrily, _Why now? Why should these memories arise **now**?_

-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-

"Come on, Nikko, there's nuthin' here. Let's _go_."

"No, no, I _swear_ I saw someone run this way just now, just gimme another minute, Hishiro!"

Hishiro sighed in exasperation. Sometimes his friend's imagination ran away with him a little too far.

Hishiro and Nikko were on assignment in Makai from Koenma, their first from the Prince _himself_, and Hishiro really didn't want to screw it. Wasting time chasing after another one of Nikko's hallucinations was, in his mind, most definitely on the way to screwing it up. Prince Koenma rarely gave out assignments personally, with the exception of his Reikai Tantei of course. So, on the occasion that he did, it was meant to be executed with the utmost care. And, seeing as how this _was_ Hishiro and Nikko's very first 'Assignment from the Boss', Hishiro had planned on carrying it out swiftly, with the exact surgical precision needed to show Prince Koenma the obvious benefit he would have on Spirit World if _he _was a member of the Reikai Tantei.

But no. Nikko had to pull another 'I saw someone suspicious, let's go check it out and leave our assignment for later'. Sometimes Hishiro wondered whether or not Nikko ever planned on using his seventy-pound battle axe for anything other than waving it menacingly at criminals that weren't actually there.

Hishiro sighed again.

It was gonna be a long day. If only he had requested a different partner . . . but of course, he could never do that, Nikko was practically his brother. Ever since Reikai Guard training at the academy 76 years ago . . . Man, he knew he should never have spotted Nikko that dollar for lunch—

Hishiro's regrets were suddenly interrupted by the strangled scream tearing out of the nearby woods. With a start, Hishiro was jerked back into reality, nearly falling off his comfortable perch upon a broken wall of limestone. Never slow to recover, however, he came to a landing on his feet, one hand on the hilt of the sword hanging loosely from his belt. He adopted a classic form of a defensive, crouched form; muscles tensed and prepared to fight. His eyes darted from tree to tree in the thick forest ahead of him; the forest Nikko had recently disappeared into. Hishiro's head tilted ever-so-slightly to the side as he searched the trees for any sign of his friend. Finding none and hearing no sound that could be called suspicious, Hishiro cautiously moved as quickly as possible to the nearest tree, crouching behind it.

"Nikko?" he called out again. "Are you there?"

Silence reigned for a split second before it was overthrown by a sharp yell, a massive burst of red-gold light, and, finally, a harsh onslaught of thick smoke billowing from the direction of all the tumult.

"Nikko!"

Abandoning caution entirely, Hishiro took off right through the smoke, squinting his eyes and thanking the Heavens he was born with filtering lung chambers.

After a full minute of running blindly through smoke and various tree parts, Hishiro came to an abrupt halt in a large clearing. Possessing no sense of grace whatsoever, he very nearly fell on his face as he did so.

'_What the . . .'_ Hishiro thought to himself, eyes widening briefly in utter confusion. It looked like the field had just gone up in flames that had disappeared just as quickly as they had come.

The grass (which Hishiro was fairly sure was once long due to the _very _few patches of hardy grasses still remaining) was shriveled to the root, completely black, and, for the most part, utterly gone. The unfortunate trees nearest him were charred and broken. Even the large boulders next to Hishiro were blackened on the surfaces facing the inner part of the clearing. But the smoke was still so thick, Hishiro could see nothing more than a few feet from him, let alone the whereabouts of his friend.

Slowly, as the smoke cleared, Hishiro could make out a lone figure standing in front of and slightly to the left of him. A brief flash of relief shot through him, as clearly his friend had come out the better in whatever fight had gone on. As the smoke dwindled away, however, Hishiro realized that the figure was very short; far too short to be Nikko, and its form was most definitely _not_ that of the stocky Earth demon that was Hishiro's long-time companion. Hishiro felt the smile that had been forming on his lips and the relief sparking in his eyes fade.

In a very short time, the smoke had dissipated enough for Hishiro to fully make out the mysterious figure standing in the field. Hishiro's breath hissed in anger as he saw the demon's faces.

Standing about 5'3" of 5'4", the first unidentified youkai, most certainly a female,****had long, dark hair that reached the middle of her back, with wild bangs swept partially across one eye. Her build was small and slender, but not quite petite, so to speak. It was very clear that she was rather strong, despite her meager build. Her skin was slightly tan and somewhat dirty, as was her loose-fitting, long-sleeved white top wrapped around her entire middle with a green sash and her baggy white pants. Her forearms appeared to be wrapped in protective bandaging underneath the sleeves of her shirt. Her face, which looked as one born of a fine lineage with highly-set cheekbones and a strong jawline, was set in a determined glare aimed across the field some ways at a small object sitting on the charred grass.

It was a blackish chunk of what appeared to be metal. Its shape vaguely resembled that of a triangle . . . Or an axe. One edge of the ruined blade was driven into the ground, but not forcefully it seemed. It was most likely simply dropped from the hands the unlucky wielder.

Hishiro growled not-so-quietly, his shoulders shaking slightly and every muscle tightened with fury.

And while Hishiro's fury was justly caused, his growl was most definitely not working for his own personal welfare. The low sound attracted the attention of the unknown demon, and she immediately turned to face the livid water demon, locking onto his pale blue eyes and holding his gaze.

Hishiro's expression showed no small amount of fear, yet he stood steady and bent slightly, his right hand replaced upon the embroidered hilt of his sword. The Reikai Guard knew he was more than skilled enough at swordplay to outmatch this _female_; he had easily overrun the competition back in the training academy, so there was no reason he shouldn't do the same now. Especially considering the fact that the stranger was unarmed.

. . . presumably.

Stooped, and prepared to draw his newly-polished Kentai sword, Hishiro made to spring, but before he even got the chance to set one foot in front of the other, the demoness smirked in slight amusement- and vanished.

Forget being able to set one foot in front of the other, Hishiro barely had time to alter his expression from set and determined to utterly baffled at the demoness's disappearance before he was hit from behind with such force that the youkai went positively sailing across the clearing, through the little smoke that lingered in the air, and met an abrupt, rather rough stop crashing against a particularly tall, burnt tree.

And there he laid, at the foot of a massive tree in the midst of Makai, the elite of Reikai's Guard- completely overcome by some shrimpy, unknown demoness with a glare like fire.

_Great_, Hishiro managed one small thought before the blackness of unconsciousness sunk fully into his brain; _Now I'll never be a Tantei member . . . And I lost my best friend. I'm sorry I ever doubted you, Nikko. Maybe if I hadn't, you'd be okay . . ._

-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-

"BOTAN! GET YOUR FANNIE IN HERE RIGHT NOW!" came a shrill yell from the Prince's office in Reikai. The command echoed through the room, and the noise of the reverberation was quickly followed by the equally loud crash of a pair of large doors swinging open thunderously, coupled with the cries of several startled ogre secretaries as a certain blue-haired, purple-eyed ferry girl came sprinting into the large, white room.

"Botan here Koenma, sir!" the pink-clad girl exclaimed, poised quite ready at the edge of Koenma's desk. The toddler Prince in question was currently seated rather stiffly at his too-large-for-his-somewhat-minor-size desk, clutching in one hand a remote and in the other a now crinkled sheet of paper. His eyes were quite large, eyebrows bordering on his hairline, and his small mouth pursed into a strained frown.

"We have a problem, Botan. A very **large** problem." He stated.

"Oh!" Botan exclaimed worriedly, her hands shooting up to clutch each other at her chin. "What exactly is the matter, Koenma-sama?"

"The demon I sent Hishiro and Nikko after has _not_ been subdued."

"No! Really? But they were among the best of your Guards!"

"Yes, I realize that Botan, thank you." Koenma said shortly. "But that's not the entire problem."

Botan's eyes widened to rival the size of teacup saucers as she listened in rapture to the story of how the mystery demon had so easily overcome the Guard duo, displaying rather impressive firepower and speed.

"Oh . . . my." She said, finally, after several moments of stunned silence.

"Botan."

"Yes, Koenma Sir?"

"Get me Yuusuke."

-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-

Well, tell me what you all think! Good? Terrible? Horrendous? Lost? Remember, reviewing is good for the soul!

Peace out!


	2. Not His Day

Disclaimer: I own no one besides Chikuu. ))

Notes: dreams/memories/flashbacks are in_ italics_. Thoughts are in **bold**.

_Chapter Two_: Not His Day

_Chapter Theme Song_: "The Hand That Feeds", Nine Inch Nails

Urameshi Yuusuke was not in a good mood.

Not only did he have to _work _on his _one_ day off in three-freaking-weeks, but he wasn't even allowed to take out his irritation _on_ the damn assignment. Strict orders commanded that he 'bring this one in alive'.

Yes, definitely cause for severe agitation on the young Toushin's part.

Yuusuke sighed heavily, shoving his hands in his pockets stubbornly, scowl plastered on his face and long hair blowing in the slight breeze.

**Stupid toddler, **Yuusuke thought furiously**, Will I EVER see a day without that brat summoning me?**

Yuusuke growled under his breath.

'_It is a matter of utmost importance, Yuusuke. And I need this one brought in_ alive_. So don't get carried away this time.'_

The demon rolled his eyes. It was always 'a matter-of-utmost-importance'. This was just one more incident to add to the ever-growing list of world-threatening calamities Koenma had shoved on him in the past years. And this time, the _one time_ Koenma had actually personally promised him a day of total relaxation-- he gets called in. Yuusuke sighed again. He was getting way too soft.

Keeping his eyes up and senses tuned to the surrounding environment, the ex-Detective trudged grudgingly through the thick forest full of dead-looking trees that Yuusuke knew weren't actually dead, due to the obvious scent of life emanating from them. They were immensely tall and blocked most of the sunlight from reaching the ground, so the air was quite cool. Not that Yuusuke cared. Dressed in a short-sleeved, white undershirt and baggy cargo pants, he was in no way affected by the temperature.

The more that he thought about it, however, Yuusuke realized that he hadn't been home for longer than half a day or so in the last few weeks . . . and it was beginning to take a toll on his nerves. Although his demon blood kept him awake for long periods of time with relative ease, Yuusuke's head was beginning to ache dully behind his eye sockets. Every sound seemed amplified to a horrendously loud volume, and even the rustling of the leaves was starting to grate on his ever-shortening nerves. His nerves weren't the only ones that were on thin ice, though. Keiko, who never liked to be without Yuusuke in their small apartment for more than a few days, had been becoming steadily more upset as Yuusuke's summonings got more and more frequent. This did not do much to improve Yuusuke's mood, considering that when Keiko was mad, the rest of the world seemed angry at him as well.

She had been especially unhappy upon his departure this morning particularly.

The breeze whistled again through the dry branches above the Toushin's head. This time, however, it carried an odd scent, which Yuusuke's demon nose picked up instantly. Immediately he came to a halt, chin lifted, sniffing slightly at the foreign smell.

With newfound curiosity, Yuusuke took off in the direction of the scent, bounding effortlessly through the spacious gap between the lower branches of the dark trees and the uneven, rocky ground. With each step he took, the scent became much more pronounced, and Yuusuke's confusion grew. The smell was like a huge admixture of several extremely contrasting scents. Like . . . smoke, crispness, and a sort of soft, flowery scent that resembled, of all things, sunflowers.

After following the odd scent for about a mile of so, the young Toushin lord came to a graceful landing atop the lowest of the branches of a rather tall tree seeming akin to that of the ash tree of Ningenkai.

Crouched catlike on the limb, Yuusuke peered down onto the scenery below him. His eyes narrowed as they came to rest on a field . . . of bright green grass . . . and leafy trees . . and, for heaven's sake _flowers_, in Makai.

Yuusuke's lower left eyelid twitched slightly as one black eyebrow arched in suspicion. He had been under the impression that he was after a dangerous fire-demon, not a landscape artist.

Yuusuke rolled his eyes in exasperation. There was _no way_ this was the 'matter of utmost importance' Koenma had dragged him out of his day of relaxation for. Lazily, the young man shifted and dropped his legs over the edge of the branch, reaching out to Sense for the whereabouts of his 'mystery demon'.

. . . And found nothing.

Yuusuke frowned. There had to be _someone_ here, he could still smell them. The scent was as strong as if they standing right in front of him.

Or rather, right _behind_ him.

A searing burst of heat suddenly thundered through the air behind Yuusuke and he was jerked into a remarkably well-coordinated side-twist off his branch to avoid being fried. The young Toushin was no doubt saved from a beach-ball sized mass of flame-like energy rocketing towards him by the quickness of his extraordinarily well-honed reflexes and nothing else.

"WHAT THE--" came the startled cry from the Toushin's mouth as he turned a swift back handspring to regain his balance. His eyes wide, he turned his head sharply to the side, searching wrathfully for the insolent, soon-to-be-walking-the-halls-of-Reikai youkai that dared attack _him_.

His eyes widened even further as his gaze landed on the insolent demon responsible.

The insolent _female_ demon responsible.

A short, sneaky little _beast _of a female.

Coming to a firm stop with his knees bent, Yuusuke's eyes narrowed in fury, partly at the nerve of this scrawny, low-class demoness, and partly as his own stupidity at letting his guard down far enough to be taken by such surprise.

A low, feral growl arose from Yuusuke's throat; his eyes burned ferociously.

A small girl with long dark hair and equally dark, round eyes was poised on the same branch Yuusuke had previously been making himself quite comfortable upon.

'_Damn low-class . . .'_ Yuusuke thought angrily.

Although, the ex-Detective noted, the demoness might very easily not be as low-class as his Toushin nature immediately assumed. Her head was held high in solid confidence, not bent in the usual jeering smirk commonly found on the faces of low-class weaklings who attempted to compete with demons like Yuusuke. Slung across her back was a simple leather quiver full of white-feathered arrows and a wooden longbow was grasped comfortably in her right hand. Over her shoulder, Yuusuke thought he could see the edge of the hilt of a sword strapped across her back as well. Use of a bow and arrow required at least some level of diligence and skill, Yuusuke knew. So the demoness most likely wasn't a completely brainless idiot. She was just an impudent fool.

Though Yuusuke couldn't really decide which was worse.

"Sharp set of senses you've got there." She called out to him. The growl rumbling in Yuusuke's chest grew increasingly louder as he bared his teeth in a feral snarl. The girl's grin only widened in response.

Yuusuke tensed, every nerve of his body itching for a fight. But the young man knew better than to let his Toushin side take over completely. If that happened, Yuusuke knew, there wouldn't be anything left of the girl to take back to Koenma.

And then he'd be in some sorta deep sh-

Yuusuke's thought were halted as the girl raised her bow, snatched another arrow out of her quiver and fired it. It promptly ignited upon its release, so that by the time it was to Yuusuke, the arrow itself could no longer be seen, but looked only to be a flaming ball of red-white energy.

This time, though, Yuusuke was well-prepared for it. He dodged to one side, swinging his right arm up to chest level at the same time. The female's eyes widened in total surprise as a massive concentration of bluish-white reiki hurtled towards her with impressive speed. She barely had the time to leap backwards off her branch before it and the many trees behind it, went up in smoke. The youkai landed on both feet on the ground below her, now on even ground with Yuusuke .

The girl's eyes, while for a moment riveted on the impressive attack Yuusuke had fired, turned to the Toushin with a look that almost nearly resembled that of slight respect. But instead of doing the expected of a demon who was obviously out of her league (roll over and play dead, that is), the youkai's large eyes narrowed with a challenging grin.

"Impressive." She said calmly, with the hint of a sneer playing in her tone. "But not much more than any of the others."

_She must mean the other Guards the Brat sent after her. _Yuusuke thought.

Her posture re-stabilized, the girl took a small step to the right, eyes never leaving Yuusuke's, as she strapped her bow to her back against her quiver. The young man might have been quite unnerved by the look she was giving him- that is, if he had met Keiko.

With a spring, Yuusuke launched himself forward, raising one fist and charging it with just enough reiki to effectively knock the girl senseless. He reached her in less than a second, and he swung at her – and missed.

She had ducked, avoiding the hit. As Yuusuke's arm swung over her head, she lifted herself back up to a steady, crouched position and whirled around to deal him one hell of a round-house kick.

But Yuusuke, being more than experienced in the ways of street-fighting, easily twisted his body to get out of her foot's way and, instead of getting a gut full of shoe, the Toushin reached down and caught it, holding her firmly in place.

With an infuriated yell, she turned a swift back handspring, freeing her foot. Flipping once more, she increased the gap between herself and the stronger demon by a good seven meters. Upon landing, she wasted no time and reached one arm around behind her to unsheathe a long, slim katana from a hold attached to her quiver. Its was in pretty good condition, its blade free of a single nick or scratch. Although, Yuusuke's vision could detect minute amounts of blood she had missed while cleaning the weapon.

_How many weapons does she carry on her!_ Yuusuke wondered incredulously as the young demoness took off towards Yuusuke, sword securely in the grasp of her right hand.

It was very lucky for the Toushin that he's had plenty of practice in defending against swords while being without one of his own sparring with Hiei. This demoness moved very nearly as quickly as the Jaganshi did, and her sword handling was almost flawless in its execution. The sword movement was lightning-fast, its blade mere flashes of light to any eyes less trained than Yuusuke's. Though even _he_ was having slight (very slight) problems keeping track of the girl's style of fighting. His brain had grown far too used to Hiei's style- so he was trying to defend against attacks the fire demon would have used at the same as he was trying to adjust to this new youkai. Luckily, their styles were just similar enough to allow Yuusuke to get his bearings quickly, and so it wasn't long before the battle-hardened Toushin gained the upper hand.

Dodging the most recent slash at his head, Yuusuke dropped to his knees and kicked his leg out and into the side of her thigh. She stumbled and lost her footing entirely, but stayed on her feet. Her brief unsteadiness gave Yuusuke the opportunity, however, to vanish from her sight, and reappear directly behind her, where he proceeded to hook his arms under hers and hold them there. Then he braced himself.

Surely enough, the demoness proved to be more than a little difficult to restrain. Though she had no use of her arms, she kicked, not just out and to the sides, but backwards into his legs, and once or twice tried to place her feet on the ground and push her body away from Yuusuke's. After her second attempt at the latter, Yuusuke stood to his full height, lifting her straight off the ground, giving her no way to shove herself using the ground as an anchor. This only served to make her angrier. Which was an impressive sight to be perfectly honest, considering her meager size.

"LET ME GO, DAMN YOU! LET GO, OR I WILL SEND YOU DOWN TO HADES MYSELF YOU--"

She proceeded to yell out a rather colorful string of curses and insults worthy of a sailor's brig.

Keeping in mind that this one was to 'be brought in alive', Yuusuke decided perhaps Kurama's way or diplomacy was the technique he should apply when handling this situation. As opposed to Hiei's method of suppression by force.

"Alright, now, calm down--"

"YOU INCOMPETENT COLLECTION OF BONES--"

"Take it easy, I'm not gonna--"

"IF YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST MANHANDLE ME INTO SUBMISSION, YOU ARE MISTAKEN! I WILL NOT BE RESTRAINED LIKE THIS, DO YOU HEAR ME--"

"Woman, relax! I'm just here to--"

"I'LL MAKE YOU SORRY YOU WERE EVER BORN YOU ARROGANT SON OF A--"

. . . So she wasn't exactly responding _well_ to the 'diplomacy' system. Ah, well. Time to resort to Hiei's method.

With seemingly little effort, Yuusuke dropped the girl to the ground, spun her around, and then threw her over his shoulder like a rag doll.

Which, surprisingly, didn't go over so well.

Meaning that she used every means at her disposal, whether verbal or physical, to inflict pain on the hanyou Toushin. From attempting to reach around and grab an arrow to stab him with it to kicking her legs into his ribs, she certainly tried everything she could. And while it didn't harm Yuusuke in any way, it sure helped scoot his mood from 'Pissed Off' to 'The Next Person That Back-Talks Me Is In For A World Of Pain'.

Yuusuke sighed heavily for the third time since his mission began.

This was definitely _not_ his day.

-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-

Prince Koenma was never one to hold much strength of spirit in the face of direct danger.

Especially when staring across his desk at a very angry demon.

. . . A very angry, dark-eyed, B-Superior demon bound in magically-enhanced chains that were only strong enough to hold a B-Inferior demon.

The Prince was just lucky he had extremely capable back-up in case things should get . . . out of hand. As they were clearly about to.

"Now, l-let's just start off with your, er, name, shall we?" the toddler prince began shakily, eyes darting between the print-out clenched in his tiny fists and the venomous glare being sent to him by the demoness seated just in front of his desk. Her only response was to narrow her eyes more and bare her teeth slightly.

Koenma gulped, glancing over quickly at Yuusuke, as if making sure he was still there to protect him from being mangled lest this female get free. Jorge was also, of course, right beside the toddler prince. Bending over slightly, he took the paper from Koenma's hands along with the pen beside the Prince's arm and touching it to his tongue, prepared to make note of anything necessary.

"Alright, so, um . . . What is it, exactly?"

The demoness growled. Koenma whimpered. Yuusuke rolled his eyes.

"Just tell him your name, woman."

"Who are _you_ to order _me_ around, lowlife!"

"So you'd prefer I just call you 'woman', then?" Yuusuke asked, quite calm as he attempted to suppress his demonic side from ripping the audacity right out the demoness with his bare hands.

". . . It's Chikuu."

"Chikuu?" Prince Koenma inquired interestedly.

"You gotta problem with my name?"

"Now see here- I will not stand for your back-talk in _my_ palace!"

"Fine."

Yuusuke laughed slightly. Chikuu's eyes flicked towards him sharply, but softened just barely when she saw he was only laughing at the Prince's obvious discomfort. A ghost of a smile flitted across her face before she turned her head, glare now firmly back in place, back to perfectly still child-prince. Chikuu sighed.

"It's my second name, really. The first part is Arashinatsu." She stated after a few moments of tense silence. Jorge jumped at the sudden sound of her voice, and jotted down her information as quickly as his hands could move.

For the next few moments, all was quiet, save for the scratch of Jorge's pencil on the paper in front of him as he wrote, glancing back and forth between Chikuu and the sheet every once and a while. Chikuu's eye began twitch just slightly as she stared the large blue demon, agitation growing with each irritating movement of the pencil.

"Hello!" she called out, unable to contain the impatience any longer.

Koenma started at the sudden outburst, as did Jorge.

"Oh! My apologies Arashi--"

"It's CHIKUU." She corrected the ogre stiffly. Yuusuke snickered.

"Oh! Right, sorry . . . Anyways, I was simply recording notes your physical features."

"Oh?" Chikuu asked, mildly interested. "And what exactly _are_ you writing?"

"Ah, well, just your eye color, hair color and such . . . How tall are you precisely?"

Chikuu opened her moth to reply, but Yuusuke interrupted.

"Oh, a little over five feet. Maybe Five-two."

" . . . Ah, thank you, My Lord. Good observat--"

"No, no, I'm taller than that!" Chikuu protested. Yuusuke sent her a sardonic look.

"Yeah right, okay."

"Shut your trap!"

Yuusuke rolled his eyes, though in truth he was glad to have some way to vent out a little of the annoyance that plagued his brain.

"I bet you're more like five foot ONE!"

"No, I am NOT! You, big blue guy with the pen, put down five-foot-_four_!"

"You aren't that tall and you know it!"

"How would YOU know!"

"What's all this yelling about?" interrupted a soft, calm voice from the doorway. Yuusuke and Chikuu paused in their power struggle for a second to snap their heads around and find Kurama striding smoothly from the open doorway of Koenma's office. He reached one hand up and placed it on the Toushin's shoulder, making a small attempt to calm his obviously frustrated friend as he came to a stop next to the raven-haired demon.

Kurama's expression was one of mild confusion as his emerald eyes turned towards Yuusuke, whose own dark eyes were closed in suppressed anger.

"Kurama," he said softly. "Don't ask."

The kitsune let out a quiet laugh and removed his hand promptly from his friend's shoulder, which was, by this point, quite tense. The red-head's attention was attracted back to the doorway from whence he had entered to find a certain short, spiky-haired fire demon strutting through the large opening.

His face held the same, stoic, slightly bored tinted by irritation expression it usually did, red eyes shining in the bright light. They flicked off-handedly around the rooms occupants, coming to rest on nothing, save the girl chained to a small chair directly in front of the toddler Prince that Hiei had by now come to dismiss mostly, if not fully, from his attention.

His ruby eyes narrowed slightly, but in an odd sort of confusion rather than his usual agitation. The highlights in her chestnut hair shone in the surgically white light of the small room; red and gold in varying intervals of her locks. The color reminded him of something.

Brushing the feeling off, Hiei continued walking and leaned himself against the wall beside Kurama.

"What exactly am I doing here?" he inquired of the fox, voice showing the demon's aggravation.

"We're here to help stop this demoness from attacking anyone unnecessarily, of course." Kurama answered lightly.

"And my presence is required for this single woman?"

"Not required- requested my friend. For moral support, you know."

"Your humor is neither required nor requested, Kurama."

At this Kurama tilted his head ever-so-slightly to one side.

"Is there something troubling you, Hiei?"

The fire demon did not answer. Kurama hadn't really expected him to. They _were_ in a very public place and, although seemingly busy at the moment with arguing loudly, the other occupants of the room were far too close for a private conversation.

The chances of Hiei speaking at all lessened even further when Kuwabara came running in through the door to complete the group.

"What's the big emergency guys!" he asked hurriedly, afraid he might have come too late to help. As he glanced quickly around the room and found nothing in particular to worry about, his posture relaxed, and he stepped a little further into the room. "Who's the girl?" he continued as his eyes fell on Chikuu still strapped to the metal chair in front of Koenma.

"Don't worry Kuwabara, you haven't missed anything important. Hiei and I arrived only just before you," Kurama explained.

"Oh okay . . . Who's the girl?"

"Her name is Chikuu. We're just here to make sure she doesn't attack anyone while she's under arrest."

"Oh, gotcha. What'd she--"

"Excuse me! We're getting to that Kuwabara!" Koenma interrupted, having finally silenced the fighting between Yuusuke and Chikuu. "Now can we please continue with the questions, if nobody minds!"

-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-

Review! ) 3


	3. Restraining Orders

Disclaimer:………SAME.

_Chapter Three_: Restraining Orders

_Chapter Theme Song_: "Give 'Em Hell, Kid", My Chemical Romance

"Alright, Chikuu, I need you to answer a few questions."

"My mother's name was Kauri. I don't know who my father is. My mother is now dead and I have no siblings alive to speak of."

". . . Thank you, but that's not exactly what I'm looking for."

"Then ask your questions."

"Ah right well, Jorge are you ready to write?"

The blue ogre nodded feverishly, glasses poised upon the bridge of his nose, pen hovering just above the paper on top of the folder held in one clawed hand. Next to him sat the Prince Koenma, hands clasped upon his desk The demi-god was now perfectly calm with the presence of his entire Reikai Tantei before him, all of whom were located, expressions decisively bored, across the room from him. Kurama leaned casually against one wall beside Hiei, Kuwabara was fiddling with some form of trinket in his hand, and Yuusuke stood, with his arms crossed, directly behind Chikuu. Her expression was something close to the one of subtle irritation worn by the Toushin not five paces from her.

"Alright. You are from the light demon realm of Sokai, correct?"

"Yes, that's correct."

Koenma nodded and continued. "Your father's name?"

"I told you, I don't know." Chikuu answered, her face unchanged.

"Alright, ogre," Koenma called out, a bright smile plastered upon his juvenile face "put down 'bastard child' then."

Chikuu's eyes widened and her nostrils flared for a moment, seeming not to comprehend for a moment what exactly Koenma had called her, before her features darkened into a glower. She leapt from her chair, the chains breaking through the back of it and allowing her to stand on her own. She lunged immediately for the Prince, who let out a sharp cry of terror and shoved himself as far away from the desk as his arms could reach.

Luckily for Koenma a hand shot out from behind the attacking demoness to grabbed a hold of the chains wrapped tightly around her torso and halted her about half a foot from the Prince's face, which was closed tightly in fear. After a moment, Koenma opened his eyes, only to find himself nearly touching faces with an angry demoness. A short yelp escaped his mouth as he tried to push himself further from the girl. With little reward, though, as he didn't seem to move a bit. His small legs kicked wildly at the desk he couldn't reach while his arms strained to force his body as far back into the material of the chair as was possible. The girl was hauled backwards into her chair. She did not try to jump up again. She instead settled for glaring absolute death at the Prince, who was cautiously smoothing out his ruffled shirt and scooting his chair back to the desk.

"Right then, thank you Yuusuke." Koenma said his voice remarkably free of any tremor. Frowning slightly, the Prince then reached up and yanked the edge of his tall hat down over his head. The young ruler re-emerged from underneath the cap as a teenage version of himself, appearing now to be ready for whatever business Chikuu was here for.

"I suppose we should continue." He said calmly. "Chikuu, you are charged with theft, causing mayhem and violation of the terms of a treaty. You will be sentenced to twenty to thirty years in Spirit Prison if you cannot answer these questions correctly."

"And by 'correctly' I'm sure you mean you want me to tell you everything I know."

"If that's the way you want to put it."

"Hmm."

"Why don't you start with why you've crossed borders illegally in the first place? I'm sure you're aware of the laws agreed upon by Makai and Sokai, so why would you choose to break them and cause trouble?"

"To restore order." She answered blankly.

"Order?" Koenma echoed.

"Yes. I'll assume your eye has simply not been turned in our direction since the treaty, as otherwise I'm sure you would have been aware of the events within the royal family that took place not a dozen years after."

"Actually, I am quite aware of how Sokai is being ruled now."

"Then what is your reason for stopping me if you know of the injustice in our world!"

"I'm afraid I cannot allow the breaching of a treaty, no matter how just the cause. Now, would you mind telling me who sent you to Makai?"

Chikuu's eyes narrowed.

"Why do you presume I have not come on my own decision?"

"Because to my rather extensive knowledge light demons never operate on their own. That's why you have an entire Council in addition to a High Queen."

The light demoness did not answer. Her face remained blank as she stared at Koenma, who patiently waited for her to speak.

"Chikuu, this will be so much easier if you simply tell us what's going on."

"Why don't you ask _him_?" Chikuu replied sharply, jerking her head around and turning her eyes to meet Hiei's. She held his gaze for not more than a second before looking back at Koenma. "Heshould know, he caused it."

"Hiei?" Yuusuke interrupted, eyes wide. Every eye in the small room now locked upon the small fire-demon, who appeared completely unaffected by Chikuu's accusation. If anything, his face was more vacant than before.

"Hiei, what does she mean?" Kurama asked.

"You know not of what you speak." Hiei said in a low, dangerous voice. Chikuu did not twist to face him again, but spat out a rebuttal nonetheless.

"You filthy--"

"Hold your tongue, Chikuu, or I will send you to prison now." Koenma voiced sternly. Chikuu grudgingly obeyed, her face again darkened with anger. Hiei's ruby eyes were now fixed on the back of her hair. The expression on his face was quite unreadable. It was something akin to anger though it looked to have been caused more by injury than insult. The fire demon was doing a fantastic job of keeping himself perfectly calm and resisting the urge to unsheathe his sword on the woman.

"Now, I think it's best that we cease this interrogation and continue it at a later time." Koenma suggested wisely. Kurama and Kuwabara were the only two of the group to reply. Each nodded in agreement. Slowly, each of the Reikai Tantei turned to leave the office, Yuusuke taking Chikuu by the arm to drop her off at the entrance to Spirit Prison.

"Wait, Yuusuke." Koenma stopped the young man before Chikuu was fully out of her seat.

"Yeah?"

"You can leave her here."

Yuusuke sent the Reikai prince a puzzled look.

"I thought the whole reason for us being here was so you would feel safe? Now you want me to leave her here?"

"I don't think I'll be in any danger, Yuusuke. I wish to speak with her alone."

"Er . . . Alright, whatever." Yuusuke agreed slowly. With that, he turned and followed his once-teammates out the door, closing it behind him. For some time after his departure, Koenma and Chikuu sat without speaking a word. Finally, after a good two and a half minutes of heavy silence, Koenma let out a defeated sigh.

"Leave us, ogre." He commanded. Jorge looked shocked.

"But Sir!"

"Ogre! Just go!"

"Yessir!"

Jorge scurried out of the room, sparing a final glance at Koenma before bowing himself out and closing the double doors. Koenma sighed again, eyes rising to meet Chikuu's.

"I know why you were in Makai, Chikuu, but I am afraid that still does not excuse your blatant disregard for the law. You will be going to Spirit Prison for at least ten years; maybe less if you will just cooperate and tell me who sent you."

"Do you have no guess?"

Koenma sighed again.

"I do, Chikuu. Though I was really hoping it wasn't going to come to that."

"Too bad for you, I suppose."

"I don't want another war on my hands, Chikuu."

"That sounds like your problem to me."

"Ah. I suppose." Prince Koenma reached one hand up to rub his temples exhaustedly. With the other hand he pressed a button on the bottom corner of his desk. Two Reikai guards promptly entered the room and, at a wave from the Prince, handcuffed Chikuu again and led her out of the chamber.

As they left Koenma dropped into his large chair, sprawling across it.

"Oh, Father is not going to like this. . ." he groaned. For a brief minute as the demi-god lay in his chair, he was able to think in quiet alone. But not another minute had passed before his door opened again and a tall, handsome redhead walked in.

"Hello Kurama."

"Hello, Koenma-sama." Kurama replied with a small smile.

"I suppose you want to know what that was about."

"You read my mind, Koenma-sama."

"All I can tell you is that that girl, Chikuu, is a light demon from Sokai, and seems to be one of the last ones true to the original ruling line."

"So there is someone now on the throne that she does not consider to be of the 'original line', as you say?"

"Correct. And I assume she is working under the orders of someone who wants the throne back in the hands of the rightful ruler."

"Then the rightful ruler is alive?"

"Yes. But he was disowned by the royal family at his birth for reasons I really can't talk about."

Kurama knit his eyebrows.

"Would this be out of respect for Hiei's wishes?"

"You are very perceptive, Kurama. I would tell you to ask Hiei, but I'm sure that would be entirely in vain."

Kurama smiled slightly.

"Understandable." He said. "Then I suppose I shall simply have to find out for myself."

"Good luck."

The youko nodded, turning to leave. Before he could get out the door, Koenma spoke again.

"Oh, Kurama, you may want to start with the year 1894."

Not taking a second glance back, Kurama strode out of the office into the bustling room outside filled with hurried ogre secretaries going about their work. Acting as inconspicuous as was possible for the handsome, red-headed demon, Kurama walked carefully past each of the cubicles, narrowly avoiding one rather flustered pink ogre who had dropped her stack of files for _'the fifth time today!_'.

His sharp eyes flicked around, searching each and every door for what he needed . . .

Ah. There it was.

Kurama's emerald gaze finally landed upon a rather small and insignificant-looking door, clearly a sign of the Reikai officials attempt at concealing the door from obvious view, labeled 'Historical Files', and directly underneath the plaque hung a large white sign, reading in red letters 'DO NOT ENTER, AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY'. Kurama's eyes glimmered roguishly.

Off-limits.

Right.

The youko smiled slyly, and altered his direction of walking so he would walk straight past the worn door. Casually, he reached up and ran one hand through his long mane of hair, pulling a small, pea-shaped seed from it as he did. He slowed his gait just as he approached the door, and flared his youki just barely so that his little seed grew into a slender, leafless vine, twining itself around one of his fingers and reaching out further into the air.

As he came upon the door, the kitsune lifted his hand and, averting his eyes from the doorknob itself, allowed the thin vine to wind itself into the lock. They twisted and turned each of the delicate mechanisms inside for about 1 and a half seconds before the look clicked open. Smiling mischievously, Kurama retracted the vine from the keyhole back into his hand, opened the door, and slipped in.

The room was quite a lot more impressive than its meager entrance would fool one into believing. It extended as far back as the eye could see, which was quite a distance when considering Kurama's extraordinary reign of eyesight. The ceiling was pushing 200 feet or more, and arched. It was painted to look something reminiscent of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel; however, the subjects were not so much humans as epic displays of ancient demonic battles. Though Kurama did notice, with a small smile, that such great individuals as Alexander the Great, King David, Julius Caesar and the like were depicted alongside the youkai kings and rulers.

The massive walls were lined with hundreds of millions of file cabinets, all made of what appeared to be a sort of titanium alloy, and each were labeled according to year, then dates, then general location. The fox sighed. What a waste, ruining such masterful beauty with such an inartistic choice of metal.

Walking to the left wall and taking a look at the top drawer of the nearest cabinet, Kurama read the label aloud.

"Year: 2006, Dates: March 12th-14th, Location: South Africa, Ningenkai."

Well, this was going to be fun. Lifting his arm up and pushing back his black sleeve, Kurama glanced at the hands on his watch.

11:29. Exactly 31 minutes until his mother expected him for lunch.

Plenty of time.

-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-

Exactly 26 minutes and 34 seconds after he initially entered the room, Kurama found at last what he was searching for.

Year: 1894

Dates: February 2nd – February 5th

Location: Sokai 1

Indi. File#: 11,782,354,699,871

Exact Date/Location/Time: February 1/Palazzo Del Diium 2, outskirts/11:11-39 P.M.

Individuals: Princess Aeroninica Omicron, Princess Amrinaerora Omega, Hiei Jaganshi, unborn child (name unk.)

-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-

I know, it's still very confusing—but just hold on, it will get less confusing as everything plays out. Peace out, and don't forget- REVIEW!

1: Sokai- That's the name I've given the Light Demon Realm. They'll be explained in detail later on.

2: Palazzo De Diium- it means 'Palace of the Sun' in a combination of Latin and Italian.


End file.
